On Sun, 8 Mar 2009 13:33:31 -0000, Colin Wilson wrote:
Depends on the shape of the conservatory and what the roof is made of.
With mine, it's lean-to at the back of the house, with a polycarbonate
roof. I have in the past used crawling boards to distribute the weight
of people & things on the conservatory roof, while working above it.

Not sure what shape you'd describe it as - it protrudes from the back
of the house by about 8 feet, and has a corner lopped off for the
doors to the rear.

If the poly's old, it might have gone brittle, but if so then it probably
needs changing as part of the work.

Not sure of the age, it was a repossession :-}

The crucial thing is that it isn't glass.

My roof looks a little like the one in this pictu
http://www.flitwickglass.co.uk/lean_t16.jpg
as opposed to the pitched roof in this picture
http://www.flitwickglass.co.uk/Victor2.jpg

The polycarbonate sheets are bolted to a large beam on the outside wall, so
there's sufficient load-bearing to support a man's weight - provided that
weight is distributed across a couple of rafters and that it is close to the
wall of the house - not in the middle of the conservatory roof. Therefore
it isn't applied directly to the roofing material. So long as the poly isn't
damaged or cracks under the load, it's possible (with care) to walk on
the crawling boards, so you don't need scaffolding.